SPCS students@Stanford University (2018)

20th July, 2018 The last day of lessons came much sooner than we’d expected. We started off the lessons with Visual Storytelling. We learned that in order to tell a compelling story with photographs, we had to consider all aspects of photography: light, composition, story. What was most important, however, was the message we were trying to bring across, for that made up the core of the photograph. In the afternoon, we had Dadaist Games. We learned the background of Dadaism and Surrealism and how they connected to the culture back then. We then played some games involving creativity and collaboration with others. It inspired us to think out of the box, and we understood that by working with others, we could create works of art that were unprecedented, unique and utterly impossible without the help of other people. After class we had a fun karaoke session to wind down. Our cluster dinner was held next to our dormitory and we treasured our last chance to socialize with the i...

In the morning, we had the Visual Storytelling lesson. We learnt some phototaking skills, then we went out and practised our photo-taking outside of the classroom. We took many aesthetic pictures, both of architecture and scenery. I really enjoyed this lesson as I took many beautiful photos. After lunch, we had our class: Dadaist Games. We learnt about the art of surrealism and modernism, and we did some activities about creative writing. It was interesting and rewarding. I learnt a lot about the history of modernism. Then, we had a karaoke gathering in the French House. Everyone was hyped! We had a great time and we enjoyed it very much. It made everyone feel relaxed. We had so much fun! In the evening, we had Cluster Dinner with our friends from 1047. We gathered in the French House and chatted with each other as we had our dinner. Afterwards, we went to have the final preparation for the Global Solutions Project. Our team did a great job on the display board, and I was so pro...

In the morning, we had the Dadaist Games class. Each of us wrote a mad lib about our first impression of Stanford University and then exchanged our work to fill in blanks. We shared our finished work and laughed together as the mad libs were hilarious. We wrote poems by passing sheets of paper with a question on top to start the poem, and also by erasure of magazine articles. It was a brand new experience for us to write poems using these methods and we appreciated each other's work. The fun class activities encouraged us to be creative in writing and boosted our interest in literature. Sharing our poems with our classmates   Taking a photo after our lesson In our Optical Phenomena class, the intriguing activities granted us an opportunity to gain knowledge while having fun. Apart from the reflection and refraction of light, we also learnt about the coherence and polarisation of light. The phenomenon that fascinated us the most was the naturally fluorescent turmeric...

Today, we had Visual Storytelling in the Digital Age with Joel Simon. We mainly learned about 3 aspects which made a compelling photo, which were story, composition and lighting. At first, we were really surprised by how Joel conducted the lesson. Normally, teachers would set up the agenda of their lesson by themselves before the lesson starts, but Joel set up the agenda during the class, after he asked us what we wanted to know more about photography. He also inspired us a lot by telling us it didn’t matter how good you were at taking photos, all that mattered was how the photo reflected the story of your life. We really enjoyed this lesson as we also had the chance to take photos around the Memorial Church. It was really fun and we were really grateful for this opportunity to learn more about photography. After lunch, we had Dadaist Games with Margaret. We made our poems and stories using surrealism techniques like mad libs, erasure and much more. It was really interesting b...

Stanford Tour 2018 Day 11 Group 6 20th July, 2018 This is the last day at Stanford having the regular schedule. We had our last two classes of dadaist games and optical phenomena, which were very interactive and aroused our interests. In the evening, we had a cluster dinner with our international friends. We all had a great time with our new friends. The class with Ms. Margaret was really good, as we got to do a lot of experimenting. After a lecture on surrealism, dada, and the timeline of the Victorian era; we got started on our first game, where we had to make up a short story leaving blanks, and getting our friends to fill in the blanks with the correct part of speech. The outcomes were truly hilarious. After a break, we started with the second activity. Ms. Margaret gave us random pieces of papers filled with words, and we had to choose words that interest us and use those to create a sentence. We had an enjoyable time. In the afternoon, we had optical phe...

This morning, we had dadaist games where we learnt about literature in the 19th century and how they enjoyed their literature.  We did a lot of fun activities, like Stanford Mad Libs and exquisite corpse where we had very creative answers for our questions. We also did blackout poems where we got to choose words from a page of national geographic to form a poem.  Everything was related to literature and it was interesting. After lunch, we had optical phenomena lesson, where we learnt a lot about light - its properties, and behaviors and we learnt a lot of new information about light that we have never learnt before like polarization.  It was real fun!! We also had the chance to make holograms at the end of the lesson and it was the most interactive - but also the last - lesson we had in the whole programme. We sang some karaoke of various songs from english to chinese songs to korean pop songs. We had a lot of fun and we almost ruined our vocal cords. We then...

Stanford Group 2 Day 10 (19/7/2018) Today is another day of engaging lessons and panel talks, where we were exposed to knowledge that changes our decisions and attitudes upon facing challenges. Our day started with a lesson on quality decision making with our teacher, Miss Dana . She taught us the appropriate steps on making a wise decision, through an interactive game of investment. We've fully understood about the essentialness of being clear on our values, able to make proper reasoning, and being mindful of the resources in hand when making decisions. The scenario case study on teenagers making critical, life-changing decisions on the cliff of Himalayas was thought-provoking and has reminded us not to fall into the decision traps, like banning any advice or deciding merely by fluctuating emotions. We were reminded that better decisions do not guarantee better outcome, yet they give better lives. This was a useful lesson where everyone was inspired deeply. We soon had ...

Today is the tenth day since we arrived. We started off the day with a cryptography class with Professor Nicholas Dwork. The first activity was very exciting and required us to decode message of different types of encryptions. We learnt that communication is essential to transfer message and break the code more efficiently.  We also realised the different types of coding methods. As part of the future generation, I believe that we have the responsibility to secure our communication methods. Then, we had decision science where we were taught to make decisions in a mathematical way by considering different probabilities and to weigh our options based on the decision cycle. Decision making is a vital skill that all of us have to use all the time. Thus, we were all deeply influenced and had developed a connection to what the professor was saying. The lesson was fruitful and engaging as well. After that, we played capture the flag with 1047. It was a very sunny day and we had a lot of f...

We started off our day with circular economics with Anne-Laure Strong. It was a great class with very interactive activities. We understood the difference between linear and circular economics and how important it is to strive for sustainability. We were encouraged to plan a business under circular economy and we learnt to think out of the box and analyse the different problems that we are going to have when we are setting up a business. After lunch, we had a lesson on nature, nurture and epigenetics. Sebastian Alvarado was a really animated and lovely man and although the topic was new and challenging, it was interesting and fun and we were all amazed by how complex DNA actually is. He even took us to his lab to look at colour-changing fishes. It was definitely a rare experience. We were also given questions that we weren’t taught so that we could find an answer based on some given information. It encouraged all of us to think beyond our imagination and to step out of our comfort ...

Day 10 blog -Group 3 After breakfast, we had the decision science class. We played games on investment decisions and scenario based decision analysis. We made decisions for a group of teenagers whom were going on a journey in the Himalayas by looking at the situation from multi-perspectives and we tried to balance all aspects to make the best decision. It was very engaging and applicable to our daily lives. After lunch, we had a class on genomics, data and cancer. We knew more about the causes and development of cancer cells as well as the similarity between certain types of cancers. It was educational and interesting to learn about that.  We were all searching for more information about cancer on the website given by our teacher attentively. Picture with our teacher from the class genomics, data and cancer. After dinner, we attended an entrepreneur panel. Entrepreneurs from the Silicon Valley shared about their personal experiences on their careers and gave us...

This morning, we had an 'Introduction to Cryptography: History, Flaws and the Future' lesson. One of our most interesting and enjoyable activities was to crack different codes and reveal secrets hidden in a bag. We split up into teams of 2 or 3 and challenged our minds so as to solve the mystery. We had a lot of fun and saw how things could be overlooked easily through the lesson. In the afternoon, we had a 'Decision Science' lesson. We needed to think from various perspectives so as to make the best decision for a group of strangled students. We have learnt that we need to make good use of the decision chain and understand our ultimate aim of the task clearly in order to make the best decision. After our house based activities, we attended an 'Entrepreneur Panel'. We had valuable advice from different entrepreneurs and business start-ups from the Silicon Valley and understood their ways to success in their careers, as well as the appropriate ways when facin...

July 19 Stanford Tour Day 10 Group 1 This morning we started our day by having a 'Decision Science' lesson. Indeed, we had to make decisions based on different scenarios the teacher presented us in a group. One of them involved some students trapped on the Himalayas and struggling to move forward or go back to where they started. We have to pay attention to every detail in the case in order to make the best decision. I think this lesson really trained us to think analytically and prepare us to face important decisions in real life. It was an enjoyable experience and I loved every single moment of it. We took a valuable chance to investigate the causes of cancer and its treatment in the afternoon. We understood that different types of DNA can be responsible for causing cancer, and how we can determine their degree of importance through comparing their change in amount by comparing normal cells and cancer cells. After the lesson, I hope that scientists will be able to ...

Stanford Tour 2018 Day 10 Group 6 19th July, 2018 We had a class of cryptography and decision science. In the evening, we played ‘capture the flag’ and experienced an engaging entrepreneurship panel. All were really good, influential and inspiring. In the cryptography class, we got to learn about the history, flaws, and future of the ciphertext. The lessons started with an exercise of decoding and translating the ciphertext. Although it's very challenging and we felt a little defeated, it's very fun and we showed good teamspirit and cooperation. We had another exercise where we got to encrypt messages into codes with a code dictionary we made by ourselves. In the afternoon, we had the science decision class where we were given a scenario. In the scenario, we were trapped in the Himalayas and had to make a difficult decision so as to reach our final destination. We also learnt the steps and core principles of making a wise decision. All of the activit...

Stanford Tour 2018 Day 9 Group 6 18th July, 2018 The day started off with class of business where we learnt about circular economy. We had nature, nurture and epigenetics in the afternoon. We had out last GSP meeting today, to finalize our research and started to work on our poster. To start our lesson, the instructor introduced us to the linear economy and elasticity through an exercise, which helped us to consolidate the things we learnt before. She continued to teach us about the theories of circular economy and enriched our knowledge through several videos and examples. We certainly gained a lot after having the lesson. After lunch, we had a lesson on nature, nurture and epigenetics. The doctor explained thoroughly about the DNA structure in great detail and we all listened attentively. He also taught us about the modification of nucleosomes and the methylation of DNA, it’s really interesting and eye opening to us. Towards the end of the lesson, he even too...

Stanford Tour group 2 day 9 We had Global Business Entrepreneurship as the first lesson. We learnt to care about the customer’s needs by designing our own backpacks. It evokes our imagination and creativity, and boosts our confidence. We also learnt about how to start a business with a 9-step business building model, which is very thought-provoking. The teacher gave us a time limit for every tasks we are doing, which gives us some pressure and motivates us to focus on our work. The second lesson is about Circular Economy and Linear Economy.  We had a deeper understanding on the significance of having a Circular Economy. We learnt different methods to obtain a Circular Economy, such as, recycling for other companies, use decomposable materials and much more. We had two examples for a successful circular business. One is about growing mushrooms with used coffee grounds, while the other one is about recycling trash collected from poor Nigeria families. We then had a chance to ...

Designing our own backpacks 18 th July 2018 Our 9 th day started off with the Business and Entrepreneurship class instructed by Raj Bhargava. The class was surprisingly fun and amazing as we had the chance to design our own backpack company. We were only given a limited amount of time to finish various tasks, it seemed impossible for us to complete them but we managed to do so at last and we were all proud of ourselves. It was truly enjoyable listening to presentations of creative backpack designs. This lesson was definitely informative and incredible. After lunch, we had our second social science related lesson: circular economy, with Anne-Laure Strong. It was a little bit different from what we learnt in economics lessons at school, it was a combination of Liberal Studies and Economics. People nowadays were focusing on linear economy, but neglect the crucial fact that protecting our environment and conserving our scarce natural resources were also essential. We were als...

We learnt a lot about managing a company's economy. We made our very own backpack and advertised for it! Stepping into day 9, we were bathed in sunlight as we set off for our first class, accompanied by the rippling breeze. We had the Business & Entrepreneurship class in the morning. We had the opportunity to divide into groups, create our very own backpack just out of paper and design an amazon web page just for it. A difficult part of this was that there was a time limit, such as making a paper bag within 10 minutes. However, through the process of design thinking, we learnt to brainstorm, to accept any ideas, to be creative within a short period and resilience - to try, try again. We then had The Circular Economy. We tried different activities such as to making and selling airplanes. We definitely experienced the tension and nervousness as we watched the price of raw materials rose and fell. We also created our own company with corporate social responsibility. It...

Our morning kicked off with the Digital Anatomy Lab tour. Firstly, we listened to a talk about clinical anatomy, explored how anatomy worked and were briefed about how technology nowadays such as AR and VR can be linked to the study of anatomy. We then had specimens to look at to study the different organs and parts of the body. Observing the specimens gave us a deeper understanding of the functions and we learnt a lot of new terms to help us explain the different movements of the body. Overall the tour was meaningful in giving us insight of viable careers we would like to pursue in the future in the fields of medicine and surgery.  Our second class was on optical phenomena. We had a lot of activities that taught us different properties and behaviours of light, which helped us further build on the knowledge we’ve learnt in class. The lesson was fun as it helped us look at physics at a different angle. 

18th July, 2018 Stanford Tour Day 9 Group 4 After our visit to the marine biology laboratory! The circular economy class! We started off with the circular economy lesson. It was indeed one of the most engaging lessons as our instructor included multiple hands-on activities, which stimulated us to apply the “business canvas” we have learnt in the previous entrepreneurship class. We grasped the difference between linear economy and circular economy, and we also further pursued our understanding of the economic topics we learn at school such as how large firms were able to enjoy high fixed costs, low variable costs, and also how they boosted their novelty. After lunch, we went to the epigenetics lesson conducted by Professor Sebastian Alvarado. He taught us the basics of DNA, RNA, and how they were interrelated. The processes of transcription and translation were also made clear by him and the analogies he implied successfully elevated our level of interest in hu...

Today is our 8th day in the US. We first had our Digital Anatomy Lab class after our breakfast. It was amazing how Biology and technology could combine. Stanford had a lot of Advanced technology that fused the studies of both biology and technology. There was an equipment that enabled us to study the human body and it’s anatomy in a three-dimensional perspective.  Then, we visited the Cadaver Lab where we studied the actual organs and structures of the human body. It was the first time many of us observed actual human organs instead of the close substitutes that animals provide. After lunch we proceeded to have our cognitive neuroscience where Mr Alan Caesar broke down the basics of neuroscience. He talked about how the brain carries out its functions and reacts to impulses with the brain cells. We also talked about the functions of the specific parts of the brain. We also had a college panel from an undergraduate student in Stanford who told us more about the university ...

It was a very relaxing day. We were allowed to head to breakfast ourselves. It is astonishing how in such little time, we can navigate ourselves around the campus. We went to the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Tour where we learned a bit about the discoveries of science in the last five decades, particle physics and how different reactions happen at the atomic level. We went to one of the world’s longest buildings and the world’s longest accelerator. They have many advanced technologies that have helped mankind make ground-breaking discoveries. The facility is regulated by Stanford and the Department of Energy. It was a very knowledgeable experience. After lunch, we had a Global Entrepreneurship Class and the instructor taught us how ideas develop quicker when we minimize criticism and how everyone has the potential to be creative and come up with new ideas. We made our own products and went through the process of Design Thinking and analysed the strategies of big companies u...

Stanford Tour 2018 Day 8 Group 6 17th July, 2018 We started off the day with a visit to the digital anatomy lab tour and we had a neuroscience class in the afternoon. Then, we had a college panel talk and a fire pit night with our international friends. The digital anatomy lab tour was very eye opening for us, as we never had a chance to see those organs in real life, like the hearts, lungs and brains. It builds on the knowledge we learnt in  biology lesson, which made it extra meaningful for us. We got to learn about the structures and functions of various organs. We were amazed by the complexity of the human body and the knowledge the instructors have. Next, we had a neuroscience class. It was quite complicated as we haven’t really learnt about the human brain before. But the doctor was very patient and explained every detail to us until we finally understood. Although it’s very challenging for us, we still had fun in learning about the structures and fu...